'James Pants,' James Pants

The locally bred DJ grows up on this third record.

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James PantsJames Pants

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James Pants

He's exposing himself. Showing who he is. On album three, James Pants has revived the party (but not too much) and reeled in the weird (but not too much) to give longtime fans something decidedly Pants-ian: a danceable album brimming with kook and vintage-y freak-flag-flying. It shows an interesting progression in the locally bred artist’s discography.

His debut, Welcome, was an out-and-out party album and his second, Seven Seals, dropped a dose of mental illness onto the musical blotter sheet. But this one, informally dubbed The Red Album, draws from both for inspiration. There are really only a couple of dance-floor packers, most notably the police siren- and megaphone-heavy first track, “Beta,” and the bass-y “These Girls.” Most songs here are a bit too slow and strange to attract the club crowd.

But this album shows there’s more to Pants than just a bizarro dude with a lot of records. This introspective, reeled-in side of Pants shows a true artist finding his sound.